brap:I'm glad momofuku has helped fuel a bit of a ramen revival but a lot of the restaurants that are riding this wave really suck.

I like places that are willing to take some risks, and Brooklyn seems like a great place to do it. If it sucks it will disappear quickly enough, but if it's good, Brooklyn is the perfect community to support something like that.

TuteTibiImperes:brap: I'm glad momofuku has helped fuel a bit of a ramen revival but a lot of the restaurants that are riding this wave really suck.

I like places that are willing to take some risks, and Brooklyn seems like a great place to do it. If it sucks it will disappear quickly enough, but if it's good, Brooklyn is the perfect community to support something like that.

Yeah you're right. I probably should be more supportive of anyone crazy enough to get into the restaurant biz. I certainly appreciate their efforts.

I went to a Korean restaurant that served a big stew with the following ingredients:-Spam-kimchi-sliced up hot dogs-macaroni & cheese-ramen-bits of seafood (shrimp, clams, octopus?)-overcooked spaghetti?

I'm not sure if it they were trying to be "ironic" or "fusion", or if Koreans were just really desperately poor in the WWII / Korean War years.

Hope you don't mind me adding numbers to your list.I feel that 1 is probably too much starch, and might be too bland besides. 2 might not work because I think rice paper is even more delicate than phyllo dough, and even if it did, it doesn't add much. 3 and 4 are genius. 5 could be great, could be terrible, entirely depends on the type of sauce used. The sauce might just completely overwhelm the taste of the lox, and that would be a shame.

My suggestion: mapo tofu, but with paneer instead of tofu. I'd be curious how that turns out. Also having trouble deciding whether to leave in the meat or to make it more Indian (i.e. vegetarian).

Hope you don't mind me adding numbers to your list.I feel that 1 is probably too much starch, and might be too bland besides. 2 might not work because I think rice paper is even more delicate than phyllo dough, and even if it did, it doesn't add much. 3 and 4 are genius. 5 could be great, could be terrible, entirely depends on the type of sauce used. The sauce might just completely overwhelm the taste of the lox, and that would be a shame.

My suggestion: mapo tofu, but with paneer instead of tofu. I'd be curious how that turns out. Also having trouble deciding whether to leave in the meat or to make it more Indian (i.e. vegetarian).

An Indian place near me does a paneer curry that's basically chunks of paneer in a spicey broth, I could see that being similar to what you're describing, just with more Chinese spices instead of Indian.

For #2 - instead of rice-paper blintzes, how about blintzes filled with spring roll filling?

Went to Korean BBQ place the other night where you can get four all-you-can-eat courses of meat (chadol bakgi, samgyeopsal, jangsamgyeopsal, and miso samgyeopsal - then refills of whichever you want), as well as endless banchan. The most amazing meal I've had in a while.

Give me ramen recommendations dammit! I like a place on St. Marks and one on 8th Streetish but I'm a dope and only know them by sight.

More Chinese noodles than Ramen, but I watched an episode of Bizarre Foods recently and the host absolutely raved about Xi'an Famous Foods. They have an outpost in Brooklyn it looks like, and more in Queens.

RexTalionis:Either that, brap, or we make a trip to Golden Mall in Flushing.

Have you been to those Assi stores? We stopped in on one in New Jersey and it was awesome sauce. We're going to go to the one in Queens if you want to check it out. Golden Mall definitely looks like it would be a great addition to that trip. We should make a plan. I love eating almost as much as I love talking about myself.

brap:RexTalionis: Either that, brap, or we make a trip to Golden Mall in Flushing.

Have you been to those Assi stores? We stopped in on one in New Jersey and it was awesome sauce. We're going to go to the one in Queens if you want to check it out. Golden Mall definitely looks like it would be a great addition to that trip. We should make a plan. I love eating almost as much as I love talking about myself.

Never been to Assi, but I have been to an H-Mart (there's one in Hartsdale in Westchester) that is a Korean supermarket with a really great food court. Big bowl of bibimbap for $8 bucks - you can't lose.